Center for International Studies
Gaining Momentum: New Trends within US/NM Hispanic Communities
The Center for International Studies is presenting a Forum on the emerging trends among Latinos in the United States and New Mexico. The main objective is to initiate a dialogue among Hispanics, as well as non-Hispanics in order to understand significant changes taking place within US and NM Hispanic communities and their consequences for the country and the state. The Forum will be national and local in its character. The speakers will analyze new national trends, and compare them to the situation in New Mexico. The final, culminating lecture will be on the New Mexico Hispanic Community and its influence on New Mexico's identity. Each event is planned to continue for 2-5 hours and will include a lecture and then a brief break, followed by a Q&A session and a discussion. Lectures will take place at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Friday or Saturday afternoons at 4 p.m.
The core events (eight public lectures and discussions) are:
1. Immigration
by
Dr. Michael A. Olivas, William B. Bates Distinguished Chair in Law
and Director, Institute of Higher Education, Law and Governance,
University of Houston Law Center.
The speaker will analyze new trends and focus on states' legislation, activities and concerns related to immigration.
September 12, 2008, Friday, 4:00 pm
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
2. View from
Across the Border: a Mexican Perspective
by Dr. Rafael Fernandez de Castro, Chair, Department of International Studies, Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM).
The lecture will give a Mexican and, in a broader sense, a Latin American perception of changes within US Latino communities, as well as in US relations with Mexico and Latin American. He will pay special attention to Mexico’s reaction and adjustment to the new US immigration environment.
October 11, Saturday, 4:00 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
3. Demographic Growth & Diversification
by
Dr. Nadia Y. Flores, Department of Sociology, Texas A & M University.
This lecture titled “A Portrait of the Latino Immigrant Population in the United States at the Turn of the 21st Century” will address the demographic shift in the US and evaluate the situation after the year 2000 when the US census revealed that Hispanics had surpassed African Americans as the nation's largest minority group. The Pew Hispanic Center projected that by the year 2050 Latinos will make 29% of the U.S. population. The lecture will provide the answers to the questions of why the Latino immigrant population has increased during the past two decades, what have been the most recent demographic dynamics, and will address the issue of whether the Latino immigrant population currently represents a social and economic threat to the rest of the United States.
November 8, Saturday, 4:00 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
4. Hispanics and American National Unity
by David R. Ayón, US Director of the binational "Focus Mexico/Enfoque Mexico" project, Loyola Marymount University.
This lecture is titled "Foreign Loyalties? Hispanics and American National Unity." In his recent book "Who Are We? The Challenges to American National Identity" famous Harvard professor Samuel Huntington argued that Hispanics threaten to divide American society today like no other group in U.S. history, and that they and other groups have foreign attachments that run counter to the national interest. David R. Ayón will examine such “transnational” ties as well as recent efforts by countries such as Mexico, Canada, Israel, Spain and Venezuela to gain influence among Hispanic Americans.
January 9, 2009, Friday, 4:00 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
by Dr. Valerie Martinez-Ebers , President of the Western Political Science Association and Professor, University of North Texas.
The speaker will examine Hispanic politics in light of its increasing significance and complexity covering the topics of a new generation of Latino politicians, growing political participation, new political assertiveness, Hispanic political identities and attitudes, and political representation for Hispanics at the national, state and local levels. The talk will also address the role of Hispanics in the 2008 Presidential campaign.
February 14, Saturday, 4:00 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
by Rudy M. Beserra, Vice President, Latin Affairs, the Coca-Cola Company.
The lecture will address new trends within Latino businesses, such as their growth, Latinas in business, and immigrant businesses.
March 13, Friday, 4:00 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
7. Latinos
in Arts
by Dr. Maribel
Alvarez, Southwest Center, University of Arizona.
The lecture will present an overview of dynamic developments in
the arts, both visual and performing, music and movies.
April 11, Saturday, 4:00 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
8. New
Mexico: Hispanos
y Mexicanos; 21st Century Immigration and the Descendants of
17th Century Indo-Hispanos
by Dr.
Manuel Garcia y Griego, Director, South West Hispanic Research Institute, UNM.
The speaker will cover the New Mexican case and summarize the views presented in the previous seven lectures and compare national and local (NM) trends. His presentation will be a focus on the dual significance of the heritage of people of Mexican-origin: it is both an immigrant ethnic group descendent of newcomers to the United States and a native population whose origin is that of a racialized group identified with a territory and annexed in a war of conquest at mid-nineteenth century.
May 8, Friday, 4:00 PM
National Hispanic Cultural Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium
The forum will be broader in scope than the lecture series outlined above. In addition to discussions after the lectures, the event will include luncheon discussions covering other topics of relevance, such as "A Spanish Perspective".
The Forum will start in September 2008, and continue through May 2009. It will be an eight-months-long self-rediscovery journey for the purpose of better understanding the changing Latino, as well as New Mexico's identity and role.